Audio Alignment of a Golf Shot

ABSTRACT

Provided are, among other things, systems, methods and techniques for setting up a golf shot. According to one embodiment, an audio-emitting device is placed at an identified position that is along a line between (i) a first location corresponding to at least one of a position of a golf ball to be hit and a position of a golfer who is to hit the golf ball and (ii) a second location corresponding to a position within 4 feet of a target hole into which the golf ball is desired to be hit. The audio-emitting device is activated so that an audio signal is emitted by the audio-emitting device at a time during which at least a portion of the current golf shot occurs.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention pertains to the sport of golf and, moreparticularly, concerns systems, methods, apparatuses and techniques forlining up a golf shot using an audio signal or cue.

BACKGROUND

Golf is a very challenging sport, partly because even slight variationsin technique, body alignment and club speed become magnified over thedistances typically involved, making it extremely difficult toconsistently hit a golf ball to a desired location, or even reasonablyclose to the desired location. With respect to the body alignmentproblem, during practice golfers sometimes lay down a marker on theground indicating the direction to the desired target and then aligntheir bodies relative to the marker in order to achieve better accuracyduring their swings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present inventor has discovered that when playing or practicinggolf, visual markers alone often are adequate to allow a golfer toaccurately align his or her body to the direction of a desired target,but the mere use of such a marker often is not helpful in allowing thegolfer to accurately maintain an appropriate sense of direction duringhis or her golf swing. Accordingly, the present invention addresses thisproblem by providing an audio signal or cue that can be used, inaddition to or instead of a visual cue, for indicating the direction ofa desired target from the vantage point of the golfer (e.g., both beforeand during the golf swing). In particular, the present inventor hasdiscovered that most people are quite adept at identifying the directionfrom which a sound is originating, even without any visual cueswhatsoever.

Based on these discoveries, the present invention provides, among otherthings, systems, apparatuses and methods in which an audio source isplaced along a line between a location generally corresponding to thegolfer (more preferably, the golfer's ear as he or she is looking downat the ball in a posture in which the golfer is ready to swing) and thelocation of a desired target that generally corresponds to the locationof the hole (more preferably, approximately 3 feet to the left of thehole). Using the audio signal from this source, the golfer often canobtain a good indication of the direction to the desired target whilehis or her eyes are focused on the golf ball.

Thus, one embodiment of the invention is directed toward setting up agolf shot in which an audio-emitting device is placed at an identifiedposition that is along a line between (i) a first location correspondingto at least one of a position of a golf ball to be hit and a position ofa golfer who is to hit the golf ball and (ii) a second locationcorresponding to a position within 4 feet of a target hole into whichthe golf ball is desired to be hit. The audio-emitting device isactivated so that an audio signal is emitted by the audio-emittingdevice at a time during which at least a portion of the current golfshot occurs.

The foregoing summary is intended merely to provide a brief descriptionof certain aspects of the invention. A more complete understanding ofthe invention can be obtained by referring to the claims and thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiments inconnection with the accompanying figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following disclosure, the invention is described with referenceto the attached drawings. However, it should be understood that thedrawings merely depict certain representative and/or exemplaryembodiments and features of the present invention and are not intendedto limit the scope of the invention in any manner. The following is abrief description of each of the attached drawings.

FIG. 1A is a flow diagram illustrating a method of using an audio cue toline up a golf shot according to a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 1B is a flow diagram illustrating a method of placing and aligningan audio-emitting device for the purpose of lining up a golf shot.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual perspective view of the use of an audio-emittingdevice during a golf shot.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual side view of the use of an audio-emitting deviceduring a golf shot.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate examples of audio patterns that are emittedby an audio-emitting device according to representative embodiments ofthe present invention.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual side view illustrating the use of a pair ofalignment markers to align an audio-emitting device platform accordingto a representative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual top plan view illustrating the lateral adjustmentmechanism of the stand for an audio-emitting device according to arepresentative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual side view illustrating the preparation of anaudio-emitting device assembly for operational use according to arepresentative embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 8A-C are top plan views illustrating an initial placement andverification of an audio-emitting device assembly.

FIGS. 9A-C are top plan views illustrating a final placement andverification of an audio-emitting device assembly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

FIG. 1A is a flow diagram illustrating a method 10 of using an audio cueto line up a golf shot according to a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention. In the following discussion, method 10 is describedwith reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, which illustrate method 10 in use.

Initially, in step 12 an audio-emitting device 50 is positioned and/oraligned. Although audio-emitting device 50 can be any device that emitssound, as discussed in more detail below, in certain embodimentsaudio-emitting device 50 produces a sound that assists the golfer 52 inmaking his or her swing and/or that is more effective in providing theappropriate directional information to the golfer 52. In any event,audio-emitting device 50 preferably is a small battery-poweredelectronic device (shown oversized in FIG. 3 and some of the otherdrawings for emphasis).

In the preferred embodiments, audio-emitting device 50 is positionedalong a line 54 between a first location, generally corresponding to theposition 56 of the ball to be hit and/or the golfer 52, and a secondlocation, generally corresponding to a position within the vicinity ofthe hole 57 into which the ball is desired to be hit. More preferably,the first location is (or corresponds to) the position 51 of thegolfer's ear at the point that the golfer is ready to begin his or herswing (as shown in FIG. 3), and the second location is (or correspondsto) a position 59 approximately 3 feet to the left of the hole at aheight above the ground approximately equal to the height of thegolfer's ear above the ground (e.g., approximately where the golfer'sear would be if the golfer 52 were addressing a ball located right ontop of the hole, as shown on a phantom flag in FIG. 2). However, inalternate embodiments the second position could be the hole 57 itselfor, e.g., any location within a 4-foot radius of the hole 57. The secondlocation sometimes is referred to herein as the target location.

As a result, from the golfer's perspective, the sound produced by theaudio-emitting device 50 will be coming from the same direction as thetarget location. For best results, it currently is preferred to positionthe audio-emitting device 50 at a distance of 6-12 feet (morepreferably, 7-9 feet) from the first location. In the preferredembodiments, the height of audio-emitting device 50 is the height of theline 54 at that location. However, in alternate embodimentsaudio-emitting device 50 is set at a fixed height (e.g., the height ofthe golfer's ears 51) irrespective of the difference in elevationbetween the golf ball 56 and the hole 57.

In order to achieve the desired positioning, audio-emitting device 50preferably is disposed on a stand 60 that is located at a fixed positionon the golf course or practice range. For this purpose, stand 60preferably is provided with a wide and/or heavy (and thus stable) base62 (illustrated in FIG. 3 as a solid base, but instead could be a tripodor other multi-leg base). In alternate embodiments, stand 60 is providedwith a pointed bottom end, for inserting into the ground; however, suchan embodiment tends to cause damage to the course and therefore is notpreferred in most cases.

The desired height of audio-emitting device 50 preferably is achievedthrough the use of an adjustable-height stand 60. Thus, in theembodiment shown in FIG. 3, stand 60 includes an upper member 64 and alower member 65, with the upper member 64 telescoping into the lowermember 65 in order to adjust the height of stand 60. However, it shouldbe noted that any other number of telescoping members or, for thatmatter, any other height-adjustment mechanism instead may be used.

In the present embodiment, the audio-emitting device assembly 70 (whichincludes audio-emitting device 50 and stand 60) also includes severalother features. Specifically, in the present embodiment audio-emittingdevice 50 detachably attaches to a mounting post 72 which, in turn, isattached to a rotatable platform 74. In the present embodiment, a knob75 rotates platform 74 through a gear linkage (not shown), providingfine adjustment of the rotational orientation of platform 74. In certainembodiments, another knob is provided, and/or platform 74 itself can bemanually rotated, in order to provide gross adjustment of the rotationalorientation of platform 74. As discussed in more detail below, in thepresent embodiment the ability to rotate platform 74 assists in moreaccurately positioning stand 60 along the desired line 54.

Preferably, rotatable platform 74 is disposed on top of a lateral member78 and includes an adjustment mechanism (such as a knob) 79 that can beused to alter the lateral position of the platform 74. In other words,the platform 74 preferably is both rotationally and laterallyadjustable. These features are discussed in more detail below.

Finally, a cage 80 (e.g. a wire mesh cage as shown in FIG. 7) preferablyalso detachably attaches to platform 74 and, when installed, serves toprotect audio-emitting device 50 from damage in the event thataudio-emitting device assembly 70 is struck by a golf ball.

A more detailed method for positioning and/or aligning audio-emittingdevice 50 in this step 12 is described below in connection with FIG. 1B.Returning to FIG. 1A, in step 13, after the audio-emitting deviceassembly 70 has been placed in the desired position, the audio-emittingdevice 50 is activated, causing it to begin the process of emitting anaudio signal.

Such an audio signal can be in the form of a continuous sound, such as atone, hum or buzz. Alternatively, it can be provided as a sequence ofsounds (typically, each of the same type, but potentially having somevariation, such as in pitch, volume or character). When a sequence ofsounds is used, each individual sound can immediately follow theprevious one or, more preferably, can be separated by an interval ofsilence. Still further, the audio signal can be any arbitrary sound. Incertain embodiments, the audio-emitting device 50: is programmable sothat the user can custom-design the audio signal, includes a standardaudio player so that the user can upload any desired audio file to beused as the audio signal, and/or has recording capability so that theuser can record sound to be used as the audio signal. For thesepurposes, the audio-emitting device 50 can include memory, an audiosignal processor, an amplifier, a loudspeaker and/or a port (e.g., USB)for connecting to a general-purpose computer.

Examples of audio sequences that can be produced by audio-emittingdevice 50 are shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. The sequence 90 shown in FIG. 4Aincludes three relatively short tones (or other sounds) 91-93, followedby a longer tone (or other sound) 94, with a short silent interval ofuniform duration between each sound 91-93 and the immediately followingsound 92-94, respectively. The sequence 95 shown in FIG. 4B includesthree relatively short tones (or other sounds) 96-98, followed by arelatively long silent period 99, with a short silent interval ofuniform duration between each sound 96-97 and the immediately followingsound 97-98, respectively.

In any event, the audio signal (e.g., pattern 90 or 95, or even acontinuous sound, if used) preferably is provided within a discrete timesegment (e.g., 4-10 seconds long. Such a segment can be played just asingle time, after which the audio-emitting device 50 must be activatedagain in order to cause the audio signal to be played again. In order toprovide the golfer 52 with an opportunity to set up, a relatively longsilent period can be provided following activation but before the actualplaying of the audio signal (e.g., sequence 90 or 95). Alternatively,such a segment can be repeated multiple times, with a relatively longsilent period between repetitions during which the golfer 52 has anopportunity to place another golf ball down and prepare for anotherswing.

Depending upon the particular embodiment, audio-emitting device 50 canbe activated using a pushbutton or other switch on the device itself orcan be activated using a remote-control device, such as wirelessremote-control device 105 attached to the golfer's belt in FIG. 3. Withrespect to the latter, for example, the golfer 52 might press a startbutton to play a single iteration of sequence 90 or 95 (or other audiosegment), or might press the start button to begin a continuousrepetition of sequence 90 or 95 (or other audio segment) and then pressa stop button to deactivate audio-emitting device 50.

Finally, returning again to FIG. 1A, in step 15 the golfer 52 executesthe golf swing, resulting in the ball traveling along a path 58 (asshown in FIG. 2). With respect to the audio sequences 90 and 95, theinitial tone 91 or 96 can be used to indicate to the golfer 52 that heor she should start the takeaway, the second tone 92 or 97 can coincidewith the golfer's backswing, the third tone 93 or 98 can coincide to apause at the top of the backswing, and the final tone 94 or silentinterval 99 can coincide with the golfer's downswing, through theimpact. In this manner, the audio signal provided by audio-emittingdevice 50 can be used, not just for indicating the direction of the hole57, but also for helping to time the golfer's rhythm. For this purpose,audio-emitting device 50 preferably includes controls to permit theduration and timing of the individual tones to be set by the golfer 52.In any event, the audio signal preferably is played during at least someportion of the golfer's shot, e.g., including any or all of the golfer'ssetup, backswing, downswing, through the impact, and follow-through,thus providing the golfer with periodic or continuous audio informationindicating the direction of the target location.

FIG. 1B is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of a method ofimplementing step 12 (discussed above), i.e., for placing and/oraligning an audio-emitting device 50 for the purpose of lining up a golfshot. The method according to this embodiment contemplates that theaudio-emitting device assembly 70 will include certain components and isdescribed with reference to FIGS. 5-7.

In step 21, the stand 60 is placed or positioned on the golf course orpractice range. In the initial performance of this step 21, anappropriate position preferably is selected by simply estimating a pointon the line 54 that is approximately 7-9 feet back from the location 51of the golfer 52.

Next, in step 22 the platform 74 is rotationally aligned to the targetlocation. For this purpose, platform 74 preferably has installed on it apair of alignment markers, which in the present embodiment areconfigured as thin vertical lines 110 and 112. More preferably, thealignment markers 110 and 112 are detachably attached to platform 74, sothat they can be attached for purposes of the alignment and then removedwhen desired. Markers 110 and 112 can be implemented as thin bars thatare inserted into corresponding openings in platform 74. However, morepreferably for purposes of structural integrity, each of markers 110 and112 is part of a larger structure (e.g., having tabs that insert intocorresponding slots within platform 74) that is visually transparent (orotherwise see-through) except for lines 110 and 112.

Accordingly, step 22 preferably involves rotating platform 74 (e.g.,using knob 75) until lines 110 and 112 visually align with the location57 of the target location (e.g., position 59). This step can beaccomplished, e.g., by lining up markers 110 and 112 with the targetlocation (or an approximation of where the target location is likely tobe) while looking in the direction 115 (shown in FIG. 5).

Next, in step 24 a determination is made as to whether the lines 110 and112 also line up with the first location (e.g., position 51 of golfer'sears), i.e., by looking in the direction 117 (shown in FIG. 5) with thesame rotational orientation for platform 74 that was set in step 22. Ifso, the positioning is complete and the process simply proceeds to step25. On the other hand, if the lines 110 and 112 do not line up with thelocation 51, the process proceeds to step 26.

In step 26, the point at which the audio-emitting device 50 is to belocated is moved laterally to a new position. While it is possible tomove the entire stand 60 to accomplish this result, the entire stand 60preferably is moved only when the current placement of stand 60 (e.g.,as determined in step 21) was sufficiently far from the line 54 (e.g.,as determined from the evaluation made in step 24). As noted above, inthe preferred embodiments, the platform 74 can be moved laterally alonga member 78 on the stand 60, and this upon-stand lateral adjustmentpreferably is used whenever possible in this step 26.

A conceptual top plan view of one structure for performing such lateraladjustment is shown in FIG. 6. In this case, the platform 74 (includingthe rotation mechanism) moves along a pair of tracks or channels 130 and132 when knob 79 is turned, e.g., through the use of a screw-drivemechanism.

In order to correctly adjust the lateral position of the point at whichthe audio-emitting device 50 is to be located in step 26, theinformation obtained in the just-completed performance of step 24preferably is used. For example, if it was determined in step 24 thatlines 110 and 112 actually align with a point that is approximately 6inches to the left of location 51, then in step 26 the point at whichthe audio-emitting device 50 is to be located preferably is movedslightly less than 6 inches to the right. Mathematically, the idealdistance to move the point at which the audio-emitting device 50 is tobe located is

${M = {E\left( {1 - \frac{d}{D}} \right)}},$

where M is the amount to move the point at which the audio-emittingdevice 50 is to be located, d is the distance from the first location(e.g., position 51) to the audio-emitting device 50, D is the distancefrom the golf ball 56 to the hole 57, and E is the alignment error thatwas determined in step 24. Therefore, with d being 7 feet, D being 50yards and E being 6 inches, the ideal distance to move the point atwhich the audio-emitting device 50 is to be located (M) is 5.72 inches.On completion of this adjustment step 26, the process continues to thenext iteration of step 22 to readjust the rotational orientation ofplatform 74 so as to align markers 110 and 112 with the target location(e.g., position 59).

In step 25, the audio-emitting device assembly 70 is prepared foroperational use. In the present embodiment, this step includes:installing audio-emitting device 50 onto mounting post 72, removingalignment markers 110 and 112, and replacing them with protective cage80, as shown in FIG. 7. It is noted that if the audio-emitting device 50can be activated using a control on the device itself, then thatactivation control preferably is accessible even with protective cage 80installed.

One particular example of the foregoing alignment procedure is nowdiscussed with reference to FIGS. 8A-C and 9A-C. FIG. 8A shows anexample of an initial positioning of stand 60 after the performance ofstep 21. FIG. 8B shows the configuration of alignment markers 110 and112 after they have been rotated into alignment with the target location(e.g., position 59) in step 22 (with stand 60 remaining in the samelocation). FIG. 8C then shows the results of the alignment check againstthe first location (e.g., position 51), with stand 60 remaining in thesame location and alignment markers 110 and 112 in the same rotationalorientation and lateral position.

As shown in FIG. 8C, the alignment markers 110 and 112 line up with apoint that is to the left of the position 51. Accordingly, in the nextiteration of step 26, the point at which the audio-emitting device 50 isto be located is moved to the right a distance that is slightly lessthan the alignment error that was evident after performing step 24(e.g., calculated or estimated using the formula set forth above).

This new position is indicated in FIG. 9A. As shown, the rotationalorientation and lateral position of alignment markers 110 and 112 havenot been changed from where they were set in the previous performance ofsteps 22 and 21, respectively. However, because the point at which theaudio-emitting device 50 is to be located has now been moved, in step 26the alignment markers 110 and 112 need to be rotated slightly in theclockwise direction, so that alignment with the target location 59 isrestored, as shown in FIG. 9B. Finally, in the second iteration of step24 it is confirmed that the position 51 is now in line with alignmentmarkers 110 and 112 (with stand 60 remaining in the location establishedin step 21 and alignment markers 110 and 112 in the same rotationalorientation established in the second iteration of step 22), as shown inFIG. 9C. Accordingly, the point at which the audio-emitting device 50 isto be located is determined to be correct, and so the process proceedsto step 25.

It should be noted that the foregoing technique for positioning/aligningaudio-emitting device 50 is merely exemplary. Any other techniqueinstead may be used. For example, the line 54 can be established with alaser pointer aimed from the first location (e.g., position 51) to thetarget location (e.g., position 59), and then the point at which theaudio-emitting device 50 is to be located can be moved until itintersects the laser beam (e.g., as observed visually or as determinedby a light sensor located on the platform 74). Alternatively, one couldvisually align the point at which the audio-emitting device 50 is to belocated with the target location from the vantage point of the firstlocation (e.g., position 51). Still further, a mirror alignment systemcan be used, e.g., with a mirror placed on the stand 60.

It is noted that the method 10 primarily is intended for use duringpractice, although it could be used during actual play, rulespermitting. Also, although method 10 can be used by itself for thepurpose of indicating the direction to the target location, in thepreferred embodiments it is used in conjunction with a visual marker,e.g., as described in the Background section above.

Additional Considerations.

Several different embodiments of the present invention are describedabove, with each such embodiment described as including certainfeatures. However, it is intended that the features described inconnection with the discussion of any single embodiment are not limitedto that embodiment but may be included and/or arranged in variouscombinations in any of the other embodiments as well, as will beunderstood by those skilled in the art.

Similarly, in the discussion above, functionality sometimes is ascribedto a particular module or component. However, functionality generallymay be redistributed as desired among any different modules orcomponents, in some cases completely obviating the need for a particularcomponent or module and/or requiring the addition of new components ormodules. The precise distribution of functionality preferably is madeaccording to known engineering tradeoffs, with reference to the specificembodiment of the invention, as will be understood by those skilled inthe art.

Thus, although the present invention has been described in detail withregard to the exemplary embodiments thereof and accompanying drawings,it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousadaptations and modifications of the present invention may beaccomplished without departing from the spirit and the scope of theinvention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited to the preciseembodiments shown in the drawings and described above. Rather, it isintended that all such variations not departing from the spirit of theinvention be considered as within the scope thereof as limited solely bythe claims appended hereto.

1. A method of setting up a golf shot, comprising: placing anaudio-emitting device at an identified position that is along a linebetween (i) a first location corresponding to at least one of a positionof a golf ball to be hit and a position of a golfer who is to hit thegolf ball and (ii) a second location corresponding to a position withina 4-foot radius of a target hole into which the golf ball is desired tobe hit; and activating the audio-emitting device so that an audio signalis emitted by the audio-emitting device at a time during which at leasta portion of the current golf shot occurs.
 2. A method according toclaim 1, wherein the audio-emitting device is placed at the identifiedposition at a height that is approximately the same level as the ears ofthe golfer.
 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the identifiedposition is between 6-12 feet from the first location.
 4. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the identified position is between 7-9feet from the first location.
 5. A method according to claim 1, whereinthe placing step comprises determining the identified position by usinga pair of alignment markers on a stand.
 6. A method according to claim5, wherein the placing step further comprises attaching theaudio-emitting device to the stand after the identified position hasbeen determined.
 7. A method according to claim 6, further comprising astep of removing the alignment markers from the stand and attaching aprotective cage over the audio-emitting device prior the golfer hittingthe golf ball.
 8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the audiosignal includes a sequence of uniformly timed first sounds.
 9. A methodaccording to claim 8, wherein the sequence of uniformly timed firstsounds is followed by at least one of: a second sound having a longerduration than each of the first sounds or a period of silence having alonger duration than each of the first sounds.
 10. A method according toclaim 1, further comprising a step of making a plurality of golf shotswhile the audio signal is emitted by the audio-emitting device.
 11. Amethod according to claim 1, wherein the audio signal comprises an audiosegment that repeats periodically on an automatic basis.
 12. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the audio-emitting device is activated viaa remote-control unit.
 13. A method according to claim 1, wherein theaudio-emitting device is placed at the identified position on a standhaving adjustable height.
 14. A method according to claim 1, wherein theaudio-emitting device is placed at the identified position on a standhaving a main body portion and a rotationally adjustable platform on topof the main body portion, with the audio-emitting device being fixed tothe rotationally adjustable platform of the stand.
 15. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the audio-emitting device is placed at theidentified position on a stand having a main body portion and laterallyadjustable platform on top of the main body portion, with theaudio-emitting device being fixed to the laterally adjustable platformof the stand.
 16. A method according to claim 1, wherein the firstlocation corresponds to the position of the golfer and the secondlocation corresponds to a position approximately 3 feet to the left ofthe target hole.